November 13, 2009

Welcome dear reader, to this, the third chapter of the baby bulletin. Today we reached a milestone. A turning point, you could say. Today … [drumroll] … we reached 24 weeks!! A monumental event in the life of the wee lad, a cause for celebration, dancing in the streets, random midnight trysting… no no, scratch that one, not allowed that one.

This means that he is now granted a 50/50 fighting chance of making it and each day that he stays put means the percentage goes up and up. The higher the better I say.

Tuesday was a busy day. A scan in the morning and a meeting with the Neonatal doctors in the afternoon. The scan was about what we thought it would be, the amount of fluid around the baby has reduced dramatically. We were warned that this would be the case, and they were not wrong. The heartbeat is still strong, and what fluid there is, is doing what it should, so for the mean time, he can watch tv a bit longer.

The meeting with the neonates doctors was a bit of an eye opener. Admittedly, when doctors talk about things that can happen, they have to state worst case, just in case it happens (they have some big assesegos reputations to cover maintain). The things that a baby can go through/ have happen when born at 24 weeks sounded all too much like a litany of despair. The list of things that can go wrong makes for some heart wrenching reading. It can affect all parts of them, from digestion to motor control to thought processes to just about every damn thing under the sun.

At the end of all that, they said that some of the more serious conditions (extreme cerebral palsy!!) are fairly rare and rarer still the longer he stays put. Thanks doctors.

I tell you what, the stuff that little Harlow Ely has put us through, he had better be the best behaved boy on the planet.

Once again, thanks to those who continue to help, ( I suspect ) at no small cost to themselves. Those that visit, those that transport the boys to and from school, those that call and keep Justine’s mind occupied on other things. She is learning to knit!! I know!!

And with that, dear reader, I am going to go. The hour is late, the eyelids are drooping… any longer and I will start to snore. You don’t want that.